Using harmonised microdata from the World Values Survey Waves 3–7 covering 314,110 respondents in 99 countries, this study examines how income, education and multidimensional religiosity are associated with three indicators of psychological welfare: happiness, life satisfaction and perceived health. The analysis employs ordered logit models estimated separately for developing and developed countries, complemented by pooled specifications with interaction terms. The results show that income has the most consistent positive association with psychological welfare across all three indicators, with larger marginal associations in developing economies. Education is also positively associated with psychological welfare, especially life satisfaction and perceived health, and the interaction estimates suggest that the income–welfare association is larger among more educated respondents in some specifications. Religiosity displays more heterogeneous associations. Religious orientation and communal participation have stronger, more consistent positive associations with happiness and life satisfaction, whereas doctrinal belief and religious practice show weaker, less stable associations across welfare indicators. Income–religiosity interactions are less uniform and vary across religiosity dimensions, welfare outcomes and development stages. Overall, the findings suggest that the income–welfare association cannot be fully understood without considering education, religiosity and heterogeneity between developing and developed countries. JEL Codes: I31, I24, Z12, O15
This article proposes a repeated model of the international monetary system, where Hegemon’s issuance varies across time. The discount factor is a standard specification of hyperbolic discounting in economics and psychology literature (e.g., Loewenstein & Prelec, 1992, The Quarterly Journal of Economics , 107 , 573–597). Like the repeated model proposed by Farhi and Maggiori (2018, The Quarterly Journal of Economics , 133 , 295–355), which is further discussed by Wang and Worrall (2025a, A repeated model of the international monetary system without direct default costs , School of Economics, University of Edinburgh; 2025b, Finance Research Letters , 86 , 108410), the safe asset issuance is determined by a no-default condition and the safe asset issuance is constant overtime. However, unlike the repeated model with a common discount factor or a quasi-hyperbolic discounting like Laibson (1998, European Economic Review , 42 , 861–871), the article shows that in my model, there are two no-default conditions and the Hegemon can optimally issue safe assets that vary across time. JEL Codes: E42, E44, F3, F55, G15
This study explores the impact of nicotine withdrawal on investor behaviour and stock market performance, integrating insights from behavioural finance and neurofinance. We hypothesise that smoking, particularly nicotine, enhances mood and stimulates decision-making through dopamine release, while withdrawal induces a negative mood and reduced stimulation, potentially impairing rational decision-making. Using data from 'No-Smoking Day' in the UK (1984-2024), we examine whether market participants who smoke and observe this day, experiencing withdrawal symptoms, display abnormal market behaviour. Our analysis of Wednesday stock returns reveals weak evidence for nicotine withdrawal effects over the entire period. However, when key factors such as the proportion of smokers, quitters, and UK investors are taken into account, the evidence is strengthened, particularly during the period from 1991 to 2024, which may suggest that anti-smoking campaigns in the UK during this period had a greater impact. These findings suggest that nicotine withdrawal leads to less rational decision-making, supporting previous research on behavioural anomalies and market inefficiency. Future research could leverage neuroimaging techniques to explore the neural mechanisms underlying withdrawal-induced decision-making and further investigate the relationship between addictive behaviours and market efficiency. This study contributes to the understanding of how physiological and psychological factors, such as nicotine withdrawal, can influence financial markets and investor behaviour, challenging traditional assumptions of investor rationality.JEL Codes: D87; G10; G4
Cryptocurrency, as a transformative financial innovation, has reshaped global financial ecosystems while simultaneously introducing new risks of money laundering. To address these challenges, regulators increasingly employ AI-driven Regulatory Technology (RegTech) to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement. Yet, this study reveals that the primary aim of crime prevention through RegTech generates unintended consequences by colliding with personal data protection laws, creating a profound regulatory and ethical paradox. Employing an exploratory qualitative approach, this study integrates semi-structured interviews with RegTech providers and document analysis, analysed through Braun and Clarke's thematic framework. Findings reveal three central themes: the conflict between RegTech and personal data protection, the imbalance between AML requirements and data subject rights, and the dilemma of the presumption of innocence in RegTech implementation. Theoretically, the study contributes by applying Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) and Solove's Taxonomy of Privacy to conceptualise how Know Your Data (KYD) mechanisms, while effective in deterring crime, risk infringing individual privacy. Practically, the results emphasise the urgent need for regulators, RegTech developers, and Crypto FinTech institutions to design adaptive governance frameworks that balance AML compliance with data protection principles. This study thus establishes a foundation for future research into privacy-enhancing technologies and equitable data governance, advancing interdisciplinary discourse at the intersection of AI, financial regulation, and digital rights.JEL Codes: G18, G28, K24, O33, K42
Jointly made decisions are a common feature across economic and social systems. Various decision rules can be used to identify a jointly negotiated offer. One such rule (MaxJoint) seeks to maximise the joint payoffs of the two parties and is related to the objective of efficiency. Another rule (MinDiff) seeks to minimise the difference in payoff between two parties and is related to the objective of fairness. These two objectives are often in tension, resulting in an efficiency-fairness trade-off. This article explores the dynamics of these and other joint decision rules within the context of negotiation, a form of social decision-making in which parties with conflicting views attempt to reach a jointly agreed-upon settlement. Through Monte Carlo simulation of an illustrative two-party multi-issue negotiation, the existence of this trade-off is confirmed and the price of fairness, that is, the reduction in efficiency by the imposition of a fairness constraint, is quantified.JEL Codes: C78, C63, B410
